Hanging in the Swiss Alps

The longest bridge in the world is open now

by CAMILLE CHIN  September 2017

It’ll take hikers 10 minutes to walk across the new suspension bridge that hovers above the Zermatt Valley in the Swiss Alps so anyone seriously afraid of heights should probably avoid it. At the highest point it’s 85 metres above the ground. The 494-metre-long Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge — named for its primary sponsor, a psychologist and winery co-owner — near the village of Randa is now the longest such bridge in the world. What’s more, it reaches heights 2200 metres above sea level. Part of the two-day Europaweg Trail, it connects Grächen and Zermatt, and cuts travel time across the valley by nearly four hours. It isn’t the highest bridge above sea level in the world. That honour goes to Aiguille du Midi Bridge in the French Alps at 3800 metres above sea level; the Titlis Cliff Walk along the alpine Mount Titlis in Engelberg, Switzerland is 3000 metres above sea level. zermatt.ch/en.

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